Web cutting mechanism for bag machines



G. w. POPPE WEB CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BAG MACHINES 4 Sheets-Sheet l Dec.7, 193 7.

Filed Dele. 1, 1936' Dec. 7, 1937. G. w. POPPE 2,101,191

WEB CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BAG MACHINES De.7,1937. GW. PQPPE 2,101,191 lWB CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BAG MACHINES Filed Dec. 1, 1956 4 Sheets-SheetsINVENTOR GEO/EGE W PoP/2f ATTORNEY Dec. 7, 1937. G. w. POPFE 2,101,191

WEB CUTTING MECHANISM FOR BAG MACHINES Filed Deo. l, 1936 4Sheets-Shes??4 4 INVENTOR GEORGE M. POP/PE.

ATTORNEY PatentedA Dec. 7, 1937 WEB CUTTING MEcrIANIsM ron MACHINES'PATIENT' OFFICE BAG George W. Poppe, Brooklyn, N. Y., assigner tolEquitable Paper Bag Co., Inc., Brooklyn, N. Y., a corporation of NewYork Application December 1, 1936,-Seriai No. 113,565

Claims.

The present invention relates to a machine for making paper bags andmore particularly to im-` provements in the devices whereby thepreliminary cuts are made in a web of lpaper prior to 5 folding the sameto form a bag tube section which is finally to result in a finished bag.

In my Reissue Patent 19,921 granted April 7, 1936,- the flap of the bagis produced by first making cuts in a web of paper, the cuts beingspaced l0 from the edge of the web and running generally in alongitudinal direction. In Figures 6 to 8 inclusive of said patent thereis shown a pair of dies each of which is set at a slight angle totheline of feed of the web and said dies are mounted to rotate on a shaftas shown in Figure 2 of said patent. i I

Commercial requirements make it. necessary that bags of diierent lengthsmay be made at will, and machines of the character described in rcomplished in machines of the priorv art, such as illustrated in saidpatent, it has been the practice to provide a number of dies each with adifferent radius.

The object of the present invention is to properiy slit any length oftube within the capacity of the machine in a more efficient manner thanheretofore and also to make diierent length slits for determining thelength of the ap on any tube length within the capacity of the machinewith Va single set of rotary cutters.

In my Patent 2,054,297, granted September 15, 1936, a single set of dieshaving a.A rectilinear movement is provided, said dies being driven by a'pair of cams and the speed of the die is. made to conform to thesurface speed of the web by means of a pair of cams so shaped as toaccomplish the desireduresult. However, in-this machine the cams whichmove the dies must have the proper shape and different sets of cams arerequired for different lengths of bagr tube sections.

In said patent the dies h. ,ve a rectilinear move'- ment during thecutting action, While for high speedoperation to which these .machinesare subjected, it is preferable that the motions be rotary as far aspossible. v

speed of the web. In order that this may be ac- The present inventionprovides a single set of rotary dies ,with means for coordinating thespeed of the-dies to correspond substantially with vthe speed of thepaper forany length of bag tube section Within the capacity of themachine and also provides means for varying the lengt/h of cut of thedies .to enable dierent sized flaps to be made.

A feature of the invention therefore resides in the provision of cuttersin the form of rotary dies with driving connections for the cuttersincluding rotary gears and means for varying the eccentric movement ofsaid gears in equal and opposite degree to vary the peripheral speed ofthe cutters so that such speed during the cutting action will accordsubstantially with the surface 'speed of the web as the latter isadvanced by the usual feed rollers. L,

Further features and advantages will be apparent from the followingdescription and claims when taken in connection with the accompanyingdrawings in which:

Figure l is a side elevation of theieft of the machine.

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional View.

Figure 3 is a top plan View of the right-hand portion of the machine asviewed in Figure 2.

f Figure 4I is an enlarged sectional view on the line t-t of Figure 2.

Figure 5 is a detailed elevational view showing 'the eccentricconnections to the cutters in nor-- mal or neutral adjustment."

Figure 5a is a detail of 'an instrument for addusting certain eccentricsin unison.

r Figure 6 is a diagrammatic view illustrating howal change is made inthe adjustment of the eccentrics from the position shown in Figure 5 1to a position to make abag in which a tooth change gear is used.

. Figure 7 is a similar diagrammatic view show- -ing the adjustment ofthe parts to make `a bag of a length in which a tooth change gearisused.

Figure 8 is a diagrammatic' view showing the development of the bagtube.

Figures 9 to 12 inclusive are details of bag tube sections. l l

Referring to the drawings and particularly to Figure 2the referencecharacter 2 indicates one of the side frames of theI machine, the otherside frame being shown in Figure 1. y 50 A roll of paper t is supportedin these side y frames and a web 6 drawn from said roll passes over aguide roller 1 and betweena printing cylinder 8 and an impression roller9. The web then passes over idlers I0, Il, l2, I4, and I6, thence, 55

'Figure 3) carried by up-standing portions 20 projecting from sideframes 2. As the web passes under the former, it is folded over on -itin the usual manner to form a bag tube as shown diagrammatically in'Figure 8. The tube and web are continuously fed through the machine bymeans of upper feed rollers 22 and a feed roller 23 carried by' shafts24 and 25 respectively. A gear 26, Figure 1, on shaft 24 meshes with asimilar gear 2 on the shaft 25 whereby both upper and lower feed rollersare driven in unison. The upper feed roller shaft is supported from theside frames 2, Figure 1, by means of up-standing frames 26a one on eachside of the machine and '-the shaft is adjustable for tension by meansof screws 28 one of 4which is shown in Figure 1.

After the tube passes the feed rollers it is severed into bag tubesections and for this purpose any' suitable mechanism may be' used. Inthe present embodiment, however, such severing is eected by a serratededge 30 of the former in conjunction with a serrated edge 32 of a lipknife 33. Prior to the severing operation, the tube is slightly retardedby means of pinch bar mechanism of the usual type. This mechanismincludes a lower pinch bar shaft 34 and an upper pinch bar shaft 36. Thelower shaft carries a cylindrical roller and the upper shaft carries aroller which is provided with a segmental portion 38 of slightly greaterradius than the main portion of the roller and which is so timed thatthis segmental portion engages the tube for a sufficient length o-f timeto permit the necessary slack to be gathered in the tube. The segmentalportion is of less radius than the radius of the feed rollers 22 and 23and therefore does not feed the tube along as fast as it is advanced bythe feed rollers, hence a slack. in the tube results. A sprocket chain31 passes over sprockets 38 and 39 driven from the lower pinch bar shaft34 through means of gearing 4U, 4I and 42, Figure l, as is usual inmachines of this general type. Stnker bars 43 are carried by thesprocket chain 31 and the timing is such that when the segmental portion38 of the upper pinch bar roller retards the tube and produces a slacktherein, one o-f the striker bars 43 gives the tube a sharp blow frombeneath, severing o-ne wall of the tube against the edge of the formerand the other wall against the lip knife. This matter of severing willbe more apparent from a consideration of Figure 8, the upper wall of thetube being severed along the linev b-b and the lower wall being severedalong the dotted line c-c. This matter of severing is fully set forth inmy reissue patent above referred to. The severed tubepasses to a tuckerblade and paste bar cylinder 44 cooperated with a clamp cylinder 45. Apaste bar 46 receives paste from a roller 48 supplied by a paste pot 50,for sealing the bottom of the bag in the usual manner. From. the clampcylinder 45 the finished bag is delivered by any well known mechanism.

The mechanism above described with the exceptlon of some modification inthe idlers for guiding the web, is substantially that used in machinesof this general type as illustrated in my Reissue Patent 19,921 abovereferred to.

The various parts of the machine receive their motion through the lowerpinch bar shaft 34 and this shaft may be driven in any suitable weyalthough the particular driving means is not shown in the drawings.

v The present invention is concerned with the proper control of thecutters for making the diagonal cuts in the web prior to folding thesame into a bag tube, as illustrated diagrammatically in Figure 7.Variations in the length of a bag tube which may be produced on the samemachine are brought about through the medium of change gear mechanismbetween the lower pinch bar shaft 34 and the lower feed roller shaft 25.The shaft 34, which may be considered as the driver or prime mover,makes one rotation for each bag tube section cut off from the main tube.By using change gears of different numbers of teeth, the ratio of drivebetween the pinch bar mechanism and feed rollers is varied. If the ratiotransmission between the pinch bar mechanism and the feed rollers is asone to one a bag tube section of a denite length depending upon thelength of the circumference of the feed rollers will be cut off by thesevering mechanism. If the ratio of transmission is less than one toone, a bag tube section of shorter length will be cut olf. Similarly ifthe ratio is greater than one to one a bag tube section of greaterlength will be cut oi because during one rotation of the pinch barmechanism the feed rollers would feed a greater length of the tube tothe severing mechanism. A number of change gears such as 40, each havinga different number of teeth are mounted on the shaft 34. An intermediateidler gear 52 is supported on the lower feed roller shaft 25 in acarrier 56. vWhile a number of gears such as 40 having different numbersof teeth may be mounted on the shaft 34, the usual practice is to useone change gear at a time.

From a consideration of Figure 8 it will be understood that the cuts 62are made in the web cuts by their length and their distance aparttransversely of the web determine the Width and length of the closing apin the finished bag. After a bag tube section has been cut off from themain tube, a section similar to that shown in Figure 9 is the result.'I'he present.invention contemplates making bag tube sections of anylength between that shown in Figures 9 and 11 and that shown in Figures10 and 12. By varying the length of the cuts 62 ilaps of differentlengths may be produced, the shortest flap being shown in Figure 11 andthe longest in Figure 12 although these are merely illustrative of apractical range of which the machine is capable.

In the type of machine shown in my Reissue Patent 19,921, the shaftcarrying' cutters was driven directly from the lower pinch bar shaft,hence in machines of the type illustrated in said patent, it isnecessary to provide cutters or dies of different radius fordifferent'lengths of bag tube sections because in order to make a propercut the peripheral speed of the cutters or dies must be substantiallythe same as .the surface speed of the -web during the cutting action.Therefore, when using machines of the character shown in said reissuepatent it has heretofore been necessary to have a great many dies anddie holdersin order to provide for bags of different lengths. Thisdiiculty has been overcome in the machine of my Patent No. 2,054,297previously referred to and the present invention is an improvement ofsaid machine. I am also aware of the application of Walter Bochow,Serial No; 101,565, 4filed September 19, 1936, in which the speed of thecutters is varied so that during the cutting action thereof theirperipheral speed accords with that of the `surface speed of the web, andI make no claim in the present application l y 2,101,191 broad enough toread on said Bochow application..

pinch bar shaft 34, and a cutter shaft 84, and I provide means forvarying the eccentricity of the driving connections to accord with theparticular change geaiin use at any particular time.

The cutters 66 are suitably supported in cutter blocks 81 which blocksare clamped to the shaft 84 by means of clamps 68. In this way thecutters may be adjusted longitudinally of the shaft Y to provide for theproper distance between the cuts 82 as is..necessary for differentwidths of bags to be produced (see Figures 3 and 4), the cutting edge ofwhich die is 4of a length equal to or slightly greater than the longestcut 62 which the die will be called upon to make.

The shaft 84 is supported in the side frames 2 and to provide forvertical adjustment of the shaft, said shaft is provided with a bearingbox 18 at each end thereof and set screws 12, Figure irovide foraccurate vertical adjustment of the s ft.

In the present embodiment the shaft 64 is rotated once for each bag tubesection but during approximately one-half of the rotation of this shaftit moves at a speed which is different from that during the otherone-half of 'its rotation. In other words during the cutting action theperipheral speed of the die is substantially equal to the surface speedof the paper. This peripheral speed during the cutting action may beslower or faster than the speed during the remaining portion of thisrotation depending upon the adjustment of certain eccentrics which willnow be l described.

Referring to Figure 2 the lower pinch bar shaft 84' carries a sprocket14 about which passes a sprocket chain 16 which chain at the upperportion of the machine passes over a sprocket 16 carried by a stud shaft88, 'Figure 4. The stud shaft 88 is supported from the machine fram'e2on the left side of the machine. by a plate 82 secured to the side frameby screws 83 one of which is shown in Figure 4. The sprocket 18 isprovided with an extended sleeve 8| which sleeve is loosely mounted onthe shaft 88 and is capable of slight longitudinal movement thereon fora purpose to be later referred to. A sleeve 84 is mounted eccentricaliyon the sleeve 8lv and a clamp 86 enables the sleeue 84 to be clamped tothe sleeve 8l at will. A gear 88 is eccentrically mounted on the sleeve84 and may be clamped' thereto by means of a clamp 891similar to theclamp 86.

With the structure just. described, if both clamps 86 and 89. aretightened, the gear 88 will be driven with the sprocket 18 which in turnis driven from the lower pinch bar shaft 34 'and the a clamp 88 by whichit may be clamped to the sleeve 88 and said gear ls eccentricaliymounted on said sleeve 88. Gears 88 and 92 are of the f same diameterand have the same number of teeth and gear 88 drives gear 92. Theeccentricity of the sleeve 88 and the sleeve 8| areA the same. Theeccentricity of the gears 88 and 92 are likewise the same;

In the position of the parts shown in Figure 4, the eccentricltiesare'not apparent because the parts mare shown in what will be laterdesignated as the neutral position' in which the parts are so.positioned that the eccentricities balance each other and under suchcondition the gears 88 and 82 rotate as fthough they were concentricallymounted on their respective shafts. This neutral condition is alsoillustrated in Figure 5 which is an elevation of the ends of the shafts64 and 88. Under this adjustment it will be observed that the greatesteccentricity soto speak, of the gears 88 and 92 is opposite the smallesteccentricity of the sleeves 84 and 88. In thisposition the cutters arevertical and a central line through the cutters passes through thecenter of the shaft 84.

If the radius of each cutter is for instance 2%, inches and the diameterof the gears 88 and 92 is each 5 inches and each gear is provided with50 teeth, then it will be apparent that during each rotation of the gear88, the gear 92 will make one rotation as will likewise the cutters 66but since in the adjustment assumed the gears- 88 and 92 rotateconcentrically in respect to their shafts, the cutters will rotateuniformly during a cycle of the machine or during one rotation of theshaft `84. It is also assumed that the'change gear 48,

Figure 1, on the pinch bar shaft 34 also carries `50 teeth. Such is thenormal or neutral adjustment depicted in Figures 4 and 5.

The eccentric mountings above described serve to cause variations in thespeed of rotation of the shaft 84 and thereby cause the 4cutters Ato bepurpose. Sincethe shaft 88 does not rotate itsI ,Y

zero point serves as a fixed point for adjustment. The zero point on theshaft 64 is opposite the mid-point of the cutters and serves to indicate.their position.

The graduations on the face of the sleeves 84 and 88 are shown inFigures 5, 6 and 7 and correspond to the number of teeth in differentchange gears which may be used. The zero point on each sleeve isindicated by a hole into which the projections on a tool 81 may beplaced forI moving these sleeves together as will be later d escribed.

With the parts in neutral position, shown in Figures 4 and 5,'it will beassumed that itis desired to make a bag tube section of such lengthasfto require a. 60 tooth change gear between the pinch bar mechanismand the feed rollers. During the cutting action of the. cutters,therefore, it is necessary that they be speeded up to accordsubstantially with the surface speed of the paper during the time thecuts are being made. 'I'o adjust theeccentric connections to accomplishthis result, the clamps 88, 89, y9| and 88 are loosened. The eccentricsleeve 98 is rotated on the shaft 64 until the'index 88 on the end ofthe sleeve isopposite the zero on the shaft 84. .The sleeve 84 on thestud shaft 88 isrotated until the index 88 is opposite the zero index 60thereon coincides with the hole on the v eccentrically mounted sleeve 90and the clamp 93 tightened. 'I'he gear B0 is then moved out of mesh withthe gear 92 and while out of adjustment said gear is turned to such aposition l that its index point 60 coincides with the hole Y marking thezero position on the sleeve 09 and the gear put back into mesh with thegear 92. The clamp 89 is then tightened and the machine is ready foroperation under the new adjustment.

In order that the gear 88 may be thus unmeshed and remeshed, the sleeve9| together with the sprocket 'l0 are slidable longitudinally on theshaft 80 but normally are held in position .with the gears 08 and 92meshing by'reason of an arm 94 carried by a rod 95 slidable in the sideframe 2, -the arm 94 engages a circumferential groove 96 in the hub ofthe sprocket 78. vA collar 98 secures the rod 95 in position, saidcollar being secured to the rod 95 by a screw |00 when the parts are inthe operative position shown in Figure 1.

The relation of the parts, after the adjustment above described has beenmade, is shown in Figure 6 and it will be understood that duringone-half of the rotation of the sleeve 9| due to the eccentric path ofthe gear 08 more teeth of said gear will engage teeth of the gear 92than during its remaining one-half of rotation. Consequently during suchone half of rotation the gear 92 will be driven at a greater speed thanduring its remaining one-half of rotation. The posi.

tion of the cutters is such that the cutting action occurs during thathalf of the rotation of the shaft 64 wherein its motion is accelerated.

Figure 'I shows the adjustment of the parts for a change gear of '15teeth. There it will be noted the zeroV point on the shafts' and 04coincides with the index l on the eccentrically mounted sleeves 88 and90 while the index 15 on the gears 88 and 92 coincides with the holesmarking the zero position on the eccentrically mounted sleeves. It willbe apparent that the acceleration under the adjustment shown in Figures6 and 7, of the shaft 60 during the cutting action will be greatest whenthe cutters are in the position there shown, that is at their centralpoint. The cutters, however, will move somewhat slower at the beginningof their cutting action and somewhat slower, but in the same degree,towards the end of their cuttingaction. In other 'words, the peripheralspeed of the cutters at their central point will be exactly the same asthe surface speed of the paper but 4the peripheral speed of the cuttersat the beginning and end of their cutting action will be slightly lessthan the surface speed of the web. This difference however, is so slightthat it is not material to the making of a proper cut.

It is obvious from what has been said that the eccentrics may beadjusted to positions corresponding to any change gear within thecapacity of the machine and indexes may be provided for the variouschange gears.

The range shown is from a change gear having 35 teeth to a change gearhaving 75 teeth and th se limits correspond approximately to a bag tuxsection from eleven inches in length to one of twenty-three inches inlength.

Since the cutters have edges of suiiicient length aromas to make thelongest cut which the machine may be called uponl to make, means arealso provided that shorter cuts may be made in order that the closingiiap of the bag may have different lengths.

- For instance, the closing flap shown in Figure 9 is considerablylonger than that shown in Figure l1. Figures 10 and 12 also show bagtube sections in which the upper or closing ap is of a diierent length.

In order to vary the length of cut the shaft 'It carries a hardenedroller |02. This shaft carries a gear |03 at its right hand end, Figure4, which meshes with a similar gear |04 on shaft 0d so that the twoshafts are driven in a one to one ratio. 'I'he roller 02 is rotarilyadjustable on the shaft 18 by means of a clamp |06. The roller |02 hasits peripheral portion of different radii and during the time that thedies are in cooperation with the portion of longer radius the dies arein position to make the cuts. By reference to Figure 2, it will be notedthat the web does not pass in a straight line between the idlers i4 andIB, but is raised slightly by the roller |02 when its larger radius partis 'in engagement with the web. When, however, the portion of the roller|02 of less radius is opposite the die there is no cutting actionbecause the web then passes between the rollers I4 and I6 in a linewhich is slightly below the cutting edge of the cutters. The cutters ofcourse are very accurately ground so that they `ust touch the roller |02at that portion of its periphery having the greater radius. By adjustingthe roller |02 about the shaft 18 the length of cut which the dies willmake may be carefully determined so that a cut short enough to make abag ap of 'a length shown in Figures 10 and l1 as well as longer cuts tomake the length flap shown in Figures 9 and 12 are possible.

What I claim is:

1. A bag machine having a former about which a web of paper is wrappedto form a bag tube, with means for continuously advancing the tube andWeb; in combination, cutters for making cuts in the web at bag sectionintervals apart, means for `rotating said cutters, said rotating meansinduring a rotation, and means whereby the degree of eccentricity may bevaried.

3. A bag machine having a former about which a web of paper is wrappedto form a bag tube, with means for continuously advancing the tube andweb; in combination, cutters for making cuts in the web at bag sectionintervals apart, means for rotating said cutters, said rotating meansincluding two gears each gear being so mounted that it may be made todescribe an eccentric path during a rotation, and means whereby thedegree of eccentricity of each gear may vary in equal and oppositedegree.

4. A bag machine having a former about which a web of paper is wrappedto form a bag tube, with means for continuously advancing the tube andweb; in combination,cutters for making cuts in 75 the web at bag sectionintervals apart, means for rotating said cutterasaid rotating meansincluding two gears each gear being so mounted that it may be made todescribean eccentric path dur-v ing a. rotation, and means whereby thedegree 'of' eccentricity of each gear maybe varied in equal andoppositeI degree, the degree of eccentricity having a denite relation tothe surface speed of the web. 4

5.. A bag machine having a former` about which I GEORGE W. PUPPE. m

